Bush Acknowledges Misjudgments On Iraq

October 26, 2006|By Mark Silva/Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON — The president says accountability for errors ultimately falls to him.

President Bush may be making his last, best case for the war in Iraq.

Heading into midterm elections in two weeks with his party's control of Congress at stake, the president faced a news conference Wednesday with an acknowledgment that "I owe an explanation to the American people."

He admitted miscalculations in the invasion of Iraq, and disappointments after more than three years there, and acknowledged American lives lost in the conflict. But Bush's explanation that Iraq is central to a broader war against terrorism, and that a withdrawal from Iraq would invite greater danger at home, remained unchanged.

What has changed, along with the president's new rhetoric about "flexibility" in adapting to the changing dynamics of the war, is the political environment. Republicans once confident of long-term dominance in Washington now face the possibility of a realigned power structure.

With respected leaders within his own Republican Party increasingly speaking publicly and privately of alternative courses for the war -- and Democrats vowing that a bipartisan consensus for change is coming should they gain control in Congress on Nov. 7 -- the president in effect is making a last-ditch argument for giving him and the GOP a chance to prove that the war is winnable.

Asked who should be held accountable for failures in the war, the president pointed to himself.

"The ultimate accountability ... rests with me," Bush said in an East Room news conference -- his second in a month, a rarity of its own. "That's the ultimate," Bush said. "You're asking about accountability ... Rests right here. It's what the 2004 campaign was about. ... If people are unhappy about it, look right to the president."

While acknowledging misjudgments -- including bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq cited as a rationale for the U.S.-led invasion and "overestimating" the ability of Iraqis to maintain "essential services" afterward -- he also issued a somber report in terms that even the military tries to avoid: "This month, we've lost 93 American service members in Iraq, the most since October of 2005."

Yet Bush maintained that Iraq has not fallen into "full-scale" civil war and he pledged that American soldiers will not sit in the "crossfire" of such a conflict. He also insisted that the war the U.S. is waging is winnable.

"Absolutely, we're winning," said Bush, citing al-Qaida operatives and a "mastermind" of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, who now await trial by U.S. military tribunals.

"I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq," the president said. "I'm not satisfied, either. ... But we cannot allow our dissatisfaction to turn into disillusionment about our purpose in this war."

Abandoning public appeals to "stay the course," once intended as a demonstration of his resolve for victory, the president now is attempting to underscore an openness to changing tactics. "As the enemy shifts tactics, we are shifting our tactics as well," he said. "Our commanders on the ground are constantly adjusting our tactics to stay ahead of our enemies." *